Having
trouble getting up in the morning?
Having just
had a fantastic few days away, I’m struggling to get back into routine. What
could be more of a rude awakening than a hateful alarm clock?
But what if
there were no alarm clocks? Bliss, might be your response. But what if keeping
a roof over your head and feeding your family meant getting up on time. And in
Victorian times that often might rising in the pitch black of night, without
even the dawning sun to alert you to the time.
The problem was
that in the 19th century a pocket watch or clock were expensive
items to purchase, and something that many working class people simply couldn’t
afford. After the industrial revolution when people did shift work in
factories, the problem of getting up on time was even more acute.
But as is so
often the case, where there’s a need someone steps in to supply demand. Enter
the “knocker-upper”. This enterprising individual invested money in a timepiece,
and then armed with a long pole and a lantern, wandered the streets at night to
alert his customers when it was time to rise.
The long pole
was used to tap on first floor or hard to reach windows, with some
knocker-uppers seemingly using a peashooter for the same purpose.
 |
| A female knocker-upper using a pea-shooter |
A typical fee
was one penny a month, and for that the
knocker-up would be there outside their window at the appointed time to tap on
the windowpane with the end of his long cane. The conscientious knocker-up gave
an undertaking not to leave until the occupant had proved they were awake.
And
if you think this sounds an unlikely way to make a living, consider how many
people needed to get up early. In Baldock,
Hertfordshire, had a population of around 2,000 people, and many of the workers
were employed by the railway and brewing industry – which meant shift work and
early starts. Indeed, there were not one but three local breweries, that all employed
draymen whose day started at 3 am so there was plenty of work for a knocker up,
who went to bed once everyone else was up.
Knocker-upper
continued to do their duty through to the 1920s, indeed, the last professional
knocker-upper turned in his long pole in the 1950s in Manchester.
All in all, perhaps
my 7.15am start isn’t so bad after all…
